Rana Ayyub denies the charges of money laundering made by the Enforcement Directorate. (File)
Journalist Rana Ayyub, who was stopped from flying to London last week, has been cleared to travel abroad by the Delhi High Court, subject to certain conditions.
A fierce critic of the government at the centre, Ms Ayyub was stopped at the Mumbai airport on Tuesday as she has been accused of money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the case.
She challenged the move in the Delhi High Court where the agency on Friday opposed the petition, saying the charges against her are "serious" in nature.
Appearing for Ms Ayyub, senior advocate Vrinda Grover submitted that "all money in her bank accounts have been seized. The mala fide is writ large. After February 1, there is no summon by ED and no communication from their side. The ED's action is nothing but a sham because my client is a critic of the government."
The Enforcement Directorate has said it is investigating alleged violation of foreign funding rules by Ms Ayyub while collecting donations for COVID-19 relief.
The journalist, however, tweeted the Enforcement Directorate's summons "very curiously" reached her inbox only after she was stopped at Mumbai airport.
"I was stopped today at Mumbai immigration from travelling to deliver this address and onwards to International Journalism Festival to deliver the keynote speech on Indian democracy. I had made this announcement public over weeks, yet the ED (Enforcement Directorate) summon very curiously arrived in my inbox after I was stopped," Ms Ayyub tweeted.
The Washington-based non-profit, International Centre for Journalists, had invited Ms Ayyub to the UK for a discussion on online violence against women journalists. Ms Ayyub has often tweeted she faced online harassment and death threats from trolls.
The money laundering case against Ms Ayyub is based on a First Information Report or FIR filed by Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad Police in September, by a Vikas Sankrityayan - the founder of an NGO called "Hindu IT Cell" and a resident of Indirapuram in Ghaziabad.
According to a document attributed to "ED sources", the agency which investigates financial crimes found that the journalist had raised over Rs 2.69 crore through an online crowdfunding platform called Ketto for charitable purposes between 2020 and 2021.
Ms Ayyub has maintained the "entire donation received through Ketto is accounted for and not a single paisa has been misused".
However, the ED alleged its probe makes it abundantly clear that the funds were raised in the name of charity in a completely pre-planned and systematic manner, and the funds were not used completely for the purpose of which the funds were raised.